Kitchen ideas - Make a kitchen out of reclaimed materials

Looking for low cost kitchen ideas, well, with a little imagination, some DIY skills and good quality reclaimed materials you can pull together a wonderful interesting kitchen.

For example, recently a chap popped in who was restoring a little seaside cottage on the edge of Carlingford Lough. He wanted to create an interesting living space with a look that complimented his lovely countryside retreat.

We had a chat and looked at different reclaimed materials. As he was a builder by trade, it was clear that he would be more than capable of carrying out most of the work himself, therefore keeping costs down.

To make the structure of the kitchen he decided to use old reclaimed Belfast brick, that would also support a traditional old salvaged Belfast sink. Old antique timber beams were selected to make the work surfaces. These were joined together on site to give flexibility when actually building the kitchen.

We had some amazing old reclaimed boards that had originally been used to set large cheeses on to mature. The maturing cheese lightly bleached the surfaces to give a white almost limed appearance. We had used this in a number of Bar and restaurant projects as interesting reclaimed wall paneling. The chap really liked this idea for making his reclaimed kitchen doors.

The client sent in some pictures and we all thought he made a great job of restoring his cottage and making a kitchen out of reclaimed materials.  More importantly, the client was really please with how it all turned out.

So if you would like to create a low cost interesting kitchen and have DIY skills then why not visit wilsonsyard.com and see what great, interesting reclaimed material you can find to make your reclaimed kitchen.

Here are a few inks to products used to make this reclaimed kitchen.

Reclaimed Brick

Reclaimed paneling

Beams

Flagstone floor

Reclaimed Bangor Blue Slates From Wilsons Yard

The main concern for customers considering the purchase of Reclaimed Bangor Blue roof slates is the consistency worry.

Will my slates be the same colour?

I don't want my roof to look like a patch work quilt?

With this in mind a purchaser should be aware that when originally created in the Welsh Slate quarry's  there were 3 distinct colours.

Heather purple... Penryn Blue... Ffestiniog grey. See thumbnails below for reference.

If colour consistency is a major concern then it is probably best not to mix these.

It is best to source salvaged Bangor Blue slates that have been reclaimed from 1 roof

Salvaging reclaimed slates from 1 roof ensures the slates will have weathered with an attractive even consistency. see image below

Reclaimed Bangor Blue slates on period style property

Our Buyers are constantly searching  out and procuring key consistent batches of Bangor Blue slates such as these below... approx 2000 sq meters of beautiful weathered top quality capital (Town) grade reclaimed Blue Bangor  slates. Recently salvaged from an old hospital building.Hand sorted re boxed and ready for a new home.

Reclaimed 2000sq meters of Bangor Blue Slates

Please visit our website below for more details

www.wilsonsyard.com

Table and Bench Project

Reclaimed Oak Parquet Table and Bench Set

Here at Wilsons Yard we are always looking for new ways to create interesting and unique products for our customers. This project was no different! Just before Christmas we were contacted by a young couple who wanted a table and bench set with a twist.

We create each piece of furniture with the client in mind; in this case it was for a young, trendy couple and we wanted to make sure that the table and bench reflected their own unique style. We looked at our range of timber that we have specially set aside for creating these tables/benches and chose a number of suitable options; however we felt that this didn't capture the feel that the customers were after so we went back to the drawing board.

They say that necessity is the mother of invention, and this certainly proved to be the case as we decided to "think outside the box". Reclaimed flooring is one of our largest selling items and in order to display the products to customers we will create a sample board showing the flooring in its final state.

This is a sample board created from oak woodblock/parquet

This sample board was created to show our Oak woodblock/parquet flooring, and it certainly helped us move the product! So much so that we completely sold out of the flooring, however this still left us with the original sample board. Old sample board doing nothing?? Young, trendy couple looking for a unique, distinctive table?? A eureka moment was reached... Time to make a reclaimed table!

Our talented workshop staff were able to re-purpose (an already reclaimed) material into something completely different. This is a table with a difference, and will definitely stand out in this couples home creating a talking point for many dinner parties to come!

Nearly there...

As you can see the reclaimed oak parquet table and bench set is simply stunning; and absolutely a one-of-a-kind. We were as happy as couple who purchased the item, it's always great to reach the end of a project and know that you have not only met, but surpassed, all the clients expectations. Now onto the next...

In Early December on my way back from a buying trip in Europe  i called with a colleague in London who persuaded me to buy a period paneled room complete with carved fireplace  AKA Giant jigsaw puzzle of random sticks, timber etc from a period property in Oxford street.

I couldn't work this one out at all and having never seen it in any other form other than a crate of miscellaneous pieces of wood and sticks i was very apprehensive.

However with the help of master joiner Paul Moorhead  and Peter Booth... 10 days later we think it turned out pretty well. A beautiful restored 19th Century panelled room complete with carved fireplace.

What do you think

Geoff Wilson